Police say CCTV is an 'utter fiasco'

Up to 80 per cent of CCTV footage seized by police is of such poor quality
that it is almost worthless for detecting crimes, it has been claimed.

By Richard Edwards, Crime Correspondent

8:46PM BST 06 May 2008

Scotland Yard's CCTV expert said that the strategy of using cameras to create a surveillance society was an "utter fiasco".

Det Ch Insp Mike Neville disclosed that only three per cent of London's street robberies had been solved by using CCTV images.

"Billions of pounds has been spent on kit, but no thought has gone into how the police are going to use the images and how they will be used in court. It's been an utter fiasco," he told the Security Document World Conference in London.

According to a Home Office report on CCTV, published in the past six months, up to 80 per cent of the footage gathered across Britain is "far from ideal" in its use to police.

Graeme Gerrard, the Deputy Chief Constable of Cheshire Police and the Association of Chief Police Officers' spokesman on CCTV, said that a "piecemeal" network frustrated detectives attempting to solve crimes.

He also said that better training and more intelligent use of the technology was required in the future.

It is estimated that about 84 per cent of cameras are operated by private businesses and police officers recover footage in up to 400 different formats, increasing the complexity of studying the images.

Mr Neville said the presence of a camera at the scene does not act as a deterrent because criminals assume it is not working. When footage is recorded, officers do not want to sit and look through the images because it is "hard work", he added.

In order to raise conviction rates, Scotland Yard is planning to post CCTV images in an online database from next month.

"If criminals see that CCTV works they are less likely to commit crimes," he said.

Mr Neville said there needs to be more training to help officers use CCTV evidence and develop a constructive relationship with CCTV operators.

The Association of Chief Police Officers did not support Mr Neville's statement that CCTV was failing, but admitted that problems with it were hindering police.

Mr Gerrard said: "When a crime has occurred CCTV is a vital element in the investigative process. In certain major investigations it can be particularly substantial and significant, as it has been in some terrorist cases. Despite its value …there are questions about how we can make better use of it in the future by establishing standards for quality of image and format so that detection opportunities are not missed."

The Metropolitan police distanced itself from Mr Neville's comments. "The MPS does not consider that CCTV has failed," a spokesman said.